The UnwantedWanted Vacation
by Tonyo
Summary: Whats going to happen when Squall gets forced on a vacation which he will deny he wants, but actually does want? Chapter 8 is UP. PLEASE R&R!.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Ok, so I'm dying for some constructive criticism on this one, please, please tell me where I could improve, ya know, be free with it, I wont bite your head off or anything. **

**The Unwanted-Wanted Vacation. – Chapter 1.**

**By Tonyo.**

Squall shined up the buckle on his belt immediately after getting up from bed and getting dressed. He sat thinking about the events of the past few weeks then replaced it in his trousers. He brushed the un-orderly mess that was his hair into a fashion where it didn't point wherever it wanted and placed his jacket firmly over the white muscle-shirt that he always wore and walked out onto the balcony of his dormitory.

Griever glinted as the blinding rays of the early-morning sun shined on it, Squall, as much as he resented the idea, knew this was going to be a good day.

After standing out on the balcony for a little while, letting the warm wind blow on him as the garden glided through it, he stepped inside with the intent to go to the training center. He slotted his usual compliment of knives into their corresponding slots on his belt then reached under his bed to get out a long black box with an enlarged metal sculpting of Griever on the front. He unclipped the two clips at the top and bottom edges of the box and slowly opened it to reveal what lay inside-the most powerful weapon ever conceived in his eyes, and in his hands, he knew it was powerful-Gunblade. Before he took it out of its box, he pulled on his normal leather gloves, picked it up, snapped open the barrel and took out a box of rounds from the box that was initially holding the Gunblade. Took out a few rounds and fully loaded the barrel of the revolver portion and then snapped it closed, gave it a swing, then-satisfyingly, slid it into its sheath on his belt. He loaded a few extra shells into the pouches in his trousers, straightened his jacket, opened the door and began walking to the training center.

Not long after sauntering along the corridor from the dorms, Squall reached the massive central concourse of the garden, to the left there was the walkway around the central concourse that lead to the parking lot, training center and library, and to the right, the cafeteria, quad and infirmary, casually turning toward the left, Squall headed to the training center, he saw a couple of cadets who looked somewhat worn out, probably from training all night which was common among the junior cadets, albeit there were quite a few disciplinary sessions for insubordination and lack of co-ordination in classes.

Upon arrival at the training center, Squall saw a largely familiar sight standing in the archway before him, hard to miss, roughly as bright as day, well…the same color at least, Selphie Tilmitt, clad in her usual short bright yellow dress standing there with a huge grin on her face.

Before he could speak, she gestured one finger to her mouth and grabbed his hand then started leading him back along the walkway on which he came, turning right off the walkway then right onto the next walkway that lead to the parking garage. Squall was sure he saw a glint of orange ducking behind a corner and was quite dumbfounded that somebody, especially the hyper, train-loving girl who was Selphie, was leading him around. She stopped in the archway and signaled for Squall to go ahead, He cocked his head at her curiously, but obliged knowing that he would probably get his ears drilled with her protest if he declined to do so.

Squall wearily walked into the parking garage where his Shelby Mustang GT500 quite happily sat until it was needed parked to the left of the rather shabby looking 'Garden Car' which rarely anybody drove, Squall looked a little further to the left and saw two familiar faces, Headmaster Cid, dressed in his usual attire, burgundy waistcoat with a white-shirt underneath and black trousers, and his wife Edea dressed in her casual black gown with her hair flowing freely over her shoulders.

Squall stood hard at attention at the sight of the headmaster and his wife.

"Good morning, Commander" they both said near enough exactly at the same time.

They both looked at each other smiled then turned their attention back to Squall, who nodded, while still hard at attention.

"Headmaster, Matron" The cogs inside Squalls head were grinding upon being called Commander, he disliked the idea of being theoretically in charge at the Garden, he much preferred his own name to his rank.

"At ease Squall, we aren't exactly here on official business" said headmaster Cid, Squall stood clearly at ease with his right gloved hand on the top of his left hip. "Any ideas why you were brought here?"

"I'm taking the car out for a spin to Dollet to pick up supplies again?"

"Not exactly" Squall raised an eyebrow, "Answer me this honestly, how long has it been since you left Garden for your own reasons?"

Squall placed his right hand on his forehead and thought back to the last time he left Garden other than to run supply trips.

"Roughly…at least Eight months, why?"

At this point, Edea, or Matron as she was often called, stepped forward.

"Why don't you take some time out Squall, I can tell you aren't exactly content with being here all the time, especially since Rinoa called it off and went to live in Deling with her father." Squall pondered for a moment, then sliced his hand through the air in front of him.

"Since Rinoa has left, nothing has changed about me, I'm content here, and above that, this Garden needs me"

"I'm pretty sure that isn't true, it isn't likely that Galbadia will launch any form of attack on us now, we're pretty much allies after all."

"True enough, but with all due respect, as you said, it 'Isn't likely' meaning that they could."

Cid stepped forward again

"Squall, it isn't happening, as headmaster of garden, I'm ordering you to take some time off, you and your colleagues" Squall again raised an eyebrow.

"Colleagues?" Cid walked over to the Garden car and banged on the rear door, took two steps away then announced

"You can come out now"

With that the rear door opened and Zell, Irvine and Quistis hopped out and Selphie ran in through the entryway behind Squall who just shook his head in disbelief.

"Slight problem guys, my car only has two seats"

"That's why you're taking the Garden Car, it has seats for all of you"

Squall again pressed his hand to his head, then shook his head in disbelief once more.

"Nida will be dropping you off on the Galbadian continent within the hour, be ready to move out" With that Squall prompted

"Whatever…" turned around and started walking off, heading for the training center once more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

The hour Squall spent in the training centre passed a whole lot quicker than he would've preferred, after taking out Three T-Rexaurs in a blind rage, killing Five grats and stocking up on spells from the draw point and announcement was booming out of the PA system informing all onboard that they were approaching the Galbadian continent and if any SeeD's wanted to leave, they were permitted to do so at this time, Squall sighed heavily and began wakling out of the training centre but before the announcement cut, the announcer, obviously being Gardens Pilot, Nida, took on a less official tone and said.

"and err…Squall, if you can hear this, good luck with the trip, that is all" with that the PA bleeped politely and the announcement ended. Squalls rage resurfaced and a nearby grat took the brunt of that aggression, Squall dived at it, fire forming in his hand – nothing was left other than its charred remains. He placed his hand on his forehead, cursed mentally to himself, made a mental note to reprimand Nida for using the PA system inappropriately, removed the hand and headed to his dormitory.

Once he got to his dorm he washed down his Gunblade and knives then jumped in the shower. After a brief shower he washed some of the dry blood off his jacket, changed his trousers and went out to the balcony of his dorm. Griever was still hanging out over his white muscle-shirt and glinted in the sunlight once again. Squall removed gunblade from its sheath and let the sun bear upon it, he couldn't remember the last time he had seen it shine in the sunlight, the only times he'd drawn it in the past Eight months were in the training centre where it looked full as the artificial light poured onto it. Seeing it shining in the light invoked an emotion which he had not experienced for quite some time, happiness. He held Gunblade up so he could see his reflection on it, he was surprised at the reflection he saw on it, he was smiling. To a certain degree it comforted him, but in an opposite and domineering reaction, he instantly removed the smile and replaced Gunblade in its leather sheath. He realised that they would be approaching the Deling city landing zone soon so he turned around walked inside and closed the balcony door. He reached under his bed again and pulled out the box that previously held Gunblade, undid the clips, opened it up and filled it with boxes of ammunition for his Gunblade, he then reached under his bed again and pulled out a hold-all and placed the box inside it, he turned around grabbed some extra clothes from his wardrobe and placed them in the bag. After he had done packing the essentials, toothpaste, hairbrush, hair-gel etc, he skulked across his dorm, holdall hanging from his side, reached the door, opened it and stepped out. Once he got outside, he sighed at what he had just experienced then closed the door, stood up straight and started walking to the garage to begin his 'Vacation'.

Squalls stomach grumbled as he was walking along the walkway from the dormitories. 'Canteen' he thought silently to himself and took a right at the end of the walkway as opposed to the left turn that would take him to the garage and his pre-planned vacation. He walked almost subconsciously to the canteen deep in thought about what just happened to him could mean. Upon entry of the canteen he quickly dismissed those thoughts as his stomach gave yet another violent rumble. Thankfully the lines were practically empty and Squall could walk right up to the serving counter to order some food.

"What can I get ya Commander?" Squall mentally cringed at being called Commander once more.

"Got any burgers left? And please, call me Squall"

"Yeah, don't ya want any hotdogs? If you want em, ya best get em before Zell gets back, he just ran back to his dorm to grab some money so he could buy them"

Squall just merely grinned and the dinner-lady knew what he was going to say before he said it, she wrapped up the Two remaining hotdogs and Two burgers, placed them in a bag and handed them to Squall who requested that his meal be placed on his 'tab' in the canteen, to which the dinner-lady just nodded and obliged. He then turned to walk out, quite satisfied with his purchase when Zell bounded in with a note in his hand to pay for the last hotdogs, Squall couldn't help but grin as he smugly walked past him. Once out of Zell's sight he pulled out one of the hotdogs, unwrapped it and started eating it. Within a minute, the hotdog was no more. Squall deposited its wrapper in a nearby trashcan and pulled out a burger which suffered the same fate as the previous hotdog. He decided to save one of each until they left Garden, zipped open his hold-all and placed them inside. Where they would go from the landing zone he didn't know, he guessed that Selphie would have a say in their heading once they left.

As he got up onto the walkway of the parking garage Zell bounded up behind him and jumped clean over his head onto the walkway before him.

"'Sup man?" he asked, giving Squall a thumbs-up.

Squall just stood on the spot, one hand on his hip giving Zell a stony look. The PA beeped politely ready for another announcement.

"All hands, prepare for landing procedures, we are approaching the landing zone, that is all" then it beeped again politely and the announcement cut.

"We best get ready to head out" Squall stated and walked past Zell, ignoring what had just happened.

"Tch...fine" came the disappointed reply from Zell upon Squall not particularly noticing the stunt he just pulled off.

The landing zone was situated a few miles off Deling city and was a largely a structure built into the ground moulded into the shape of Gardens lower sections, only two existed, one in Balamb, close to where Garden was situated before its engines were activated, the other on the Galbadian continent, Six miles off Deling city. There were only two of these structures built due to their high cost however there were plans for one to be built on the trabian continent, near Trabia Garden and also in Esthar after they had completed their operation to form a beach on the eastern coast using explosives and excavating the land hereby allowing Garden up onto the Estharian continent. They were only built specifically for Balamb Garden as Galbadia Garden was returned to its previous location after the battle damage was repaired and its piloting controls were restored, after it was returned to its previous location, its engines were deactivated and it came to rest where it belonged, Trabia Garden was repaired to its previous glory, however its engines would never be able to be activated due to the artificial materials it was reconstructed from as the initial materials could not be found, if the engines were to start, most of the Superstructure would collapse, rendering it unfit for flight.

Garden slowly decelerated as it started its approach to it. When it was less than a minute away, Four separate struts lowered from the furthermost sections of the garden, seemingly passing straight through the anti-gravity ring and locked in position. Four corresponding struts started to ascend from the ground at the landing zone, as the garden got closer, the struts changed their height according to Gardens altitude and locked in position. Garden was coming to a full stop when the struts met, they heaved a bit as they connected and Garden achieved a full stop. The struts of the landing zone then started to retract into the ground carrying Garden with it and the Anti-gravity ring started to expand and travel back up around gardens central structure and came to rest in its previous location above the Administrative officers at the top of the Garden, bending in all sorts of directions to fit around Gardens new shape before restoring itself to its perfect circle. The layout of Garden however remained the same as it was, as opposed to reverting back to its previous form. Once the garden was fully docked and rested firmly at ground level the exit door of the parking garage was gracefully opened and several different vehicles, all belonging to SeeD's drove out. The shutters protecting the front gate were also opened and the gates unlocked for anybody who wished to leave that way. Up in the Headmasters chambers the piloting tower descended down until it reached the same level as where the Headmasters desk previously was and locked into the floor.

Cid tapped Nida on the shoulder.

"Nice work Pilot"

"Thank you Headmaster, but do me a favour? Just call me Nida"

"Very well Nida, nice work anyway, well I guess I best go see Squall and everybody off, if you need me, ill be in the Garage"

Cid and Edea then left the 'Bridge' arm-in-arm with each other, both heading for the Garage to signal Squall and his colleagues' departure from Garden.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3.**

The midday air over Galbadia was warm and moist as the doors from the parking garage drew open and a cluster of SeeD vehicles sped out to the grassy fields with the all familiar sound of roaring gasoline-driven engines, within minutes they were dots in the distance, their paintjobs glinting as the sun reflected off them.

He stood, leaning against the side of the open metal doors, letting the sun pour over his muscular form, the parking garage was graced with light, a rare occurrence in itself as the Garden rarely landed and the doors were rarely opened, he look over his should, back at the Garden Van and his GT500-his baby, his pride and joy other than his Gunblade and Griver, he wouldn't have minded if he had to leave on his own in his own vehicle, but he had to take the crew along. Zell was standing sparring with air, Selphie was checking over the two hampers she had prepared for their time out, often punching a fist into the air and shouting 'WOOHOO' nearly at the top of her lungs. Irvine was unsurprisingly standing close to her, smiling as she hurriedly checked the hampers and let out her joyful screams.

Then there was Quistis who sat in one of the metal holes built into the wall with her legs hanging out over the rim with her nose in a book, which she was reading quite contently. It was as Squall looked at her that she chose to look up and scan the room with her eyes for anything that might be amiss, her first point of reference was Squall, they made perfect eye contact and she smiled at him and looked away, he also looked away and returned his gaze to the grassy fields.

He drew Gunblade once more and let the sun pour over it before again holding it up so that he could see his reflection, he saw that he was again smiling. 'Dammit' he thought to himself, then killed the smile. He re-sheathed Gunblade and turned around and walked away from the metal doors, that was when Cid and Edea (Matron) waked in, still arm in arm with each other. Everybody stood hard-up at attention on the spot and waited for one of them to speak.

Cid stepped forward to speak, gently releasing his arm hold on Edea

"Well, I see that you're all here, I'm not going to say much, one thing I am going to say is, at ease" With that everybody in the room stood at ease. "I only came here to see you off, but I'd like to remind you that this vacation is for you, and you only, no official business, just a break from duty, do whatever you want, within reason, keep the conduct of a representative of SeeD, but take it easy"

"Headmaster, I…" Squall was cut off mid-sentence

"I know Squall, you would rather it you left by yourself, however, myself and Edea have decided that this would be a good opportunity for you to bond with your friends, since Rinoa left for Deling City you've rarely bothered with them, I think its time that changed, don't you?"

"Whatever…" came Squalls response as he turned and started heading towards the vehicle.

"Who knows, maybe you can schedule a drop into Deling City to go see her, it's your vacation, and I'm sure everybody else would enjoy the opportunity" Edea stepped forward.

"Squall, I strongly advise you listen, in your current state of mind, you aren't a very outgoing person, I'm hoping that this vacation will stimulate your sense of companionship, I can sense it in you already."

Squall glared at her with eyes that told her to speak no more.

"But that is besides the point, I'm not here to discuss it, I came to wish you the very best of luck, and bestow you with safety, be safe my children" Edea took a step back and Cid spoke again.

"Garden will be heading over to the Eastern coast of Esthar to help with the…herm…construction work that is going on over there. Should you need us, you have the number. We'll likely be in touch, until then, you may disembark, see you in a while"

With that, Cid and Edea left in exactly the same way they arrived, arm-in-arm.

"Alright people, load up and let's go" came Irvines call after they had left.

"Woo-hoo" came Selphies reply

"Alright, Selphie, you need a hand with those hampers?" came a call from where Quistis was sitting.

"Nah I'm fine, I got the cowboy helping me" Zell bounded over to the Van,

"Hey Squall, who's driving?" he asked.

"You get one guess there"

"Thought so," and he bounded off and dived in the back. Quistis was about to crawl into the rear when,

"Quistis, you get the passenger seat" A call from Squall in the drivers seat.

"You sure?"

"Would I have just asked if I wasn't?" The passenger seat opened up and Quistis got in, book still in hand.

"Selphie, you done back there?

"We're loaded up and ready to go"

"Fine, get in"

With that Selphie and Irvine jumped in the back and closed the doors.

Squall pushed the ignition and the engine whirred into life, noisily. After the engine had been given a few test revs, the connecting door between the driver section and the passenger section was opened, the van was placed into gear and headed out of the parking garage. With that, Squall had an idea.

He wasn't exactly going to leave his GT500 sitting in the garage while Garden was the other side of the world.

"Zell, can you drive this thing to Deling City?"

"Sure, why?" Came his reply.

"I'm heading back for my car, meet me at the entrance to Deling City"

Squall applied the brakes, turned the van around and drove it back to the Parking garage, where he promptly got out, banged the side of the van.

"Zell, your show" then ran back into the garage, keys to his GT500 in hand.

He ran his hand along the side of the car before putting the keys in the door and opening it then getting in.

"You thought I was leaving you that easy?" He said, apparently speaking to the car.

He placed the keys in the ignition and the engine literally roared to life, a smile graced his features before quickly removing itself again, Squall placed it into gear and pushed the accelerator, the car did a vicious wheelspin before speeding towards the exit at high speed. The car sped past the Van and Squall signaled the indicators from left to right in a friendly gesture as the car sped off towards Deling city, windows open with Squalls arm resting on the frame and music playing respectively loudly through its custom sound system.

Back in the Van, Zell and everybody else couldn't help but stop and stare for a second as Squalls car slowly turned into a glinting dot in the distance.

"And there he goes, typical…" Quistis tapped Zell on the shoulder,

"Yes, he has his ways to impress, but can we get moving now"

Zell placed the Van into gear and it started traveling towards Deling City, not nearly as hastily as the GT500 but hastily enough to refrain Selphie from whining about speed…or lack thereof.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

Squall felt the warm air brush through his hair before checking over his speedometer to find the needle sitting quite happily on ninety, Squall switched up a gear and watched it jump to one-twenty before changing up again after reaching one-thirty and hitting one-sixty. Squall could feel the speed, every last bit of it. Pleased at the speed of the vehicle he kept it up for around a minute before gradually coming to a halt and reaching to the central console for his satellite phone. He dialled in the number for Garden and let it ring.

A pleasant voice greeted him upon pickup.

"Balamb Garden, secretary to Headmaster Cid speaking, how may I direct your call?"

"This is Commander Squall Leonhart reporting in, would it be possible for me to speak to The Headmaster" Squall replied, rather jokingly.

"Squall, couldn't you've just said you wanted to speak to Cid" the woman replied, amused.

"Just doing my job"

"I guess not, ill put you through, hold on"

With that the line started ringing again.

"This is Cid, what've you got Squall?"

"Oh, nothing, just saying that we're clear and you can move out when you're ready."

"Confirmed Squall, we'll be off soon, that all?"

"For now"

Squall pressed the end call button on his Satellite phone and placed it back in the central console then looked around for a good vantage spot to which he found a naturally forming hill in the landscape that would give him a fair view of Garden taking off, he put the car into gear, took off the handbrake and started to head towards it.

After parking the GT500 atop the hill, he got out, sat on the hood and looked to the coast, where he could see Garden and its landing zone clearly. The light shone off Garden at different angles and different intensities as the colours varied across its vast superstructure. It was with that Squall saw the receiver-struts come up from the floor and lift Garden off the ground seemingly effortlessly, he watched the anti-grav ring slowly go back down over the structure and settle at the bottom and start spinning once more, the receiver struts released themselves from the Gardens main struts and retract back into the floor. Garden hovered for a few seconds as its docking struts retracted before turning back to the ocean and heading towards it, as it reached the beach it started to lower itself down then it hit the water, the anti-grav ring disappeared and Garden sailed casually into the open water, he gave a short salute then stood up and walked back around to the drivers-side door, got in, started the engine then revered back a bit, he pulled the car through one-eighty degrees and gave it full throttle once more, heading towards Deling city.

"Zell, pull over, it's taking off"

The car came to a screaming halt and all but Quistis dived out of the car in blatant excitement, Quistis gradually got out after she had finished reading the page she was on.

The garden started rising from its hole in the ground and the docking latches separated from each other and the Garden floated for a bit, turned around and flew off into the ocean.

"Well, I guess there's a first for everything" Said Irvine

"I guess so" replied Selphie

"Boring, can we go now?" cried Zell

Quistis just stood with her hand protecting her eyes from the sunlight beating down on her, shrugged and got back in the car.

"Gunna hafta do something about her" said Selphie "Perhaps some music will get her in a cheery mood"

Irvine nodded in agreement, along with Zell, they got back in the car and Selphie pulled out a CD from one of the hampers labelled 'Ultimate School-bus Anthems Ever, The Compilation' and didn't hesitate to put it in the CD player, in hope or cheering Quistis up, who again had her nose buried in her book, that was until the van speakers buzzed into life with the classic '99 green bottles sitting on a wall'. She reached over to the CD player, pressed eject and looked back at Selphie.

"Ya know, if you wanted me to say something, you could've just asked, but I get the hint."

Selphie smiled while Zell and Irvine laughed,

"Good ol' Selph', knows exactly how to get a person to speak"

Squall was again doing his favourite speed of 160 along the mostly flat Galbadian terrain until he reached the gates of Deling city, and slowed down to enter the busy city. Deling city was as busy as it always is, flocks of people crossing the roads, the whirr of car engines, and the smell of burning gasoline in the conventional and primitive engines that the Galbadians used, it had been a little while since Squall had visited Deling City, but he immediately knew that it hadn't changed much, he headed to the car park just east of the centre of the city. Upon arriving there he called the other party.

"Zell? How long do you think you'll be?"

"I'm guessing around 20 minutes, where are you now?"

"Sitting in the car park to the east of the arch, I've got some stuff I gotta go get , if I'm not here when you get here, you know where I am, stick around, I wont be long"

"Jesus….how fast were you going…well, I guess ill see you there, we got a plan for being there?"

"Not really, just thought it'd be a good idea to come here, you might want to go see Rinoa and it isn't like there aren't enough places to go here, anyway, gotta go, cya later"

"Yeah, cya man"

Squall pressed the end call button and walked off to the shopping centre of Deling city looking to upgrade his combat knives and re-stock on various things.

His first point of reference was the item shop in the large multi-floor dome that was Deling cities shopping centre/mall. He walked in, Gunblade casually bouncing off his thigh in its sheath and Griever hanging out over his shirt, almost everybody looked at him as he entered the shop and he just ignored them as he walked over to the shelf that various types of remedies on it. He picked up half a dozen, read their labels and walked over to the checkout. The cashier scanned the items in and prompted Squall with the price, he reached around to his back pocket and pulled out a wad of notes rolled up tidily and tied up with an elastic band, he took out three of these notes and placed them on the counter, grabbed a bag, placed the items inside and turned to walk out. As he turned, he felt strange, like the wind had just picked up all of a sudden and made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. As he looked over he saw the curvaceous feminine form that was Rinoa Heartilly, he just stared, thoughts running quickly through his head. He started to walk towards the door, slowly, casually,

"Hello Squall" she gasped. Squall wanted to not acknowledge her, but his remaining feelings stopped him.

"Hi" He grimaced.

"What're you doing in Deling city?"

"Short vacation"

"Anybody with you?"

"Everybody, they'll err…be here soon, sure they'd want to meet up for a drink or something."

"I'd like that, but what about you, do you want to meet up for a drink"

"I'll err…get back to you on that one"

"Come on Squall, don't act like we can't be friends"

"Yeah…uhh…whatever, listen I've gotta go get some new knives, where can I find you?"

"Well, I've got the day off work, so I'll be at my fathers place, me and him get along so much better now that I'm living back here. Take my number, call me when or if you wanna head out later" she said holding out a business-card size piece of paper.

"Will do" he said as he took the piece of paper "Hey, listen, there any good weapon shops around here?"

"Try Mercado's upstairs…well, see ya later I guess"

"Yeah, maybe we can meet up at your dads place then head somewhere, see ya later Rin"

She smiled at him, and he smiled back…unwillingly, but it seemed polite at the time. He walked up to the escalator and travelled up to the second floor where he saw the large shop with all sorts of weaponry displayed in the window, from maces to samurai swords, all highlighted with their own colour of neon backlight, it struck Squall as a little over the top, but hey, it wasn't his shop.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5.**

"Well, I'm guessing that was Squall?"

"BZZZT, wrong answer, who do you think it was Irvine?" Zell replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, I thought as much"

"Where is he?" Quizzed Quistis

"He's…going shopping" Zell replied, somewhat wondering about what he just said.

"Squall…SHOPPING?" Selphie practically screamed.

"Yeah, it struck me as a bit weird"

Quistis just grinned and thought of Squall walking into a clothes shop and coming out wearing some kind of catsuit.

"Typical I suppose" she said quietly.

"What was that?" asked Zell

"Huh? Oh, I said strange of him to go shopping" she replied

"Oh…ok" replied Zell with a doubting tone. "Well, we should be at Deling in around 10 minutes, Selphie, we taking those hampers with us or we leaving them here? Presumably you wanna go and 'splore the city a bit?"

"Well, it'd be a pity if I didn't, I think we should probably leave them in here, if we need them we can easily come back for them"

"I second that" said Quistis

"Yeah, me three" replied Irvine

"It's decided then, Squall said he would meet us in the car park and we can decide what to do or where to go from there"

"Whoa!" said a shocked Irvine "Mister Leader not being Mister Leader for a change…I am amazed, truly"

"Quiet you" said Selphie, slapping him on a cheek playfully.

Squall was standing in front of a stand with exotic knives hung up on metal hangars, there was a pair of knives that were particularly drawing his attention, their labels read 'Holo-blades', the handles were freshly polished titanium and protruding from their tops were blue/purple coloured blades, purely holographic, not solid in any form.

"Can I help you sir?" a man of similar height asked from his right side.

"You got two pairs of these in stock?" Squall replied pointing to the Blades that had caught his attention.

"Of course Sir, you like them huh?"

"Yeah, listen, I'm interested in purchasing, how much are we talking?"

"A respectable amount sir, are you quite sure?"

"How much?" Squall re-iterated.

"Fifteen thousand Gil for one pair, obviously thirty thousand for two pairs"

"I'm a SeeD from Balamb Garden, ID 41269, Squall Leonhart, how much can I get knocked off" The assistant took 3 steps back, and simply gawped at him.

"You're…Squall Leonhart?"

"I am..,"

"Ex boyfriend of Rinoa Heartilly?"

"Yes…what is this, twenty questions, can I get my price now?"

"Well, because you are a SeeD and…well, you, I can get you two pairs for fifteen thousand Gil"

"Sounds like a fair price to me" said Squall, reaching his hand around to his back pocket to get out his 'roll' of money.

"Please come to the counter Sir"

"Sure, and for gods sake call me Squall, titles make my skin crawl"

"Yes si….Squall"

Squall and the Assistant walked over to the counter and the Assistant reached under the counter and brought up two boxes around, Squall stared intently as the Assistant opened the boxes to reveal the blade hilts that resided inside them.

"Wanna try them out?"

With that Squall grabbed both the knives from one box flicked open two slots in the sides and pressed the buttons inside. The blades hummed as they appeared from the hilts then stopped when they were at their peak length, he took a sample swing and was quite surprised at their very light weight.

"I'm definitely taking these" Squall said as he opened the slots, pressed the buttons and the blades instantly disappeared. He placed them back in the box and again reached around to his back pocket to get out his roll of money.

"What did you say your SeeD ID was?"

"41269." Squall re-iterated as the assistant typed the five numbers into the keypad.

"Well, I've just confirmed you are a SeeD, how will you be paying"

Squall started counting out fifteen thousand Gil from his roll of notes,

"Ah..i see" replied the assistant, eyes wide. Once Squall had finished counting out the money he placed the roll back into his back pocket and handed the money to the assistant.

"If you would just sign here as proof of purchase"

Squall quickly signed the receipt and handed it back.

"And we're done here, would you like a bag?"

"Ill just take the boxes, say, you got any of those new concussive-force shells for Gunblades?"

"As it would happen, we had a fresh shipment in this morning" the assistant said, reaching under the counter and placing a box of one hundred shells on the counter.

"I'll take five boxes" said Squall,

The assistant recalculated the total, Squall got out some more cash and paid for the new items, the assistant then handed Squall the boxes, smiled thanked Squall for the purchases and walked away, Squall walked out of the shop and checked his watch, he cursed as he realised that his party should be arriving soon and started running back to the car park where he left his GT500.

As he reached the car park the Garden car was just entering and Squall waved to signal where he was.

"There he is, over there" signalled Quistis

"Ah, I see" said Zell, turning the car towards him "There best be a parking space over there"

Zell drove the car over to where Squall had waved from and sure enough there was a parking space right next to his GT500, Zell swung the Garden car into it and no sooner had it stopped were the rear doors open and Selphie and Irvine dived out. Zell and Quistis got out a little more slowly than their two companions.

"So Squall, what you been shopping for?" Selphie asked while Squall was sitting in the drivers side of the GT500,

"New knives and some of those new Gunblade shells I've been after" he replied

"Ooooh, no new clothes then?"

"What do you think I am, female?" Squall said with a snigger.

"That was just uncalled for, can I see them?"

Squall threw a box of the shells to Selphie stepped out of the car and walked over with his new knives attached to his belt, as well as his conventional ones, he took a pair of the new blades off his belt and handed them to Selphie who flicked open the slots and pressed the buttons to make the blades hum as they appeared.

"WOOOOOW, HOW COOL!" she screamed, jumping up and down on the spot. "How much did these set you back?"

"Not a whole lot, SeeD weapon privileges" Squall said, hand on his hip.

"So uh, where do we go from here?" asked Zell,

"Well, I ran into Rinoa earlier, I told her that we'd all meet up with her at her fathers place later, head to a bar or something and go catch a few drinks" he answered.

"Wow, so you've already seen her?" queried Quistis

"Yeah" Squall replied

"Well, lets gooooooo" said Selphie, still waving the knives around.

"I err…want my knives back" Squall asked, and Selphie handed them back and the party all walked towards the arch at the centre of the city.

**And I'm done, at least for now, R&R very much appreciated people…don't be shy…**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6.**

The group moved through the busy, noisy and fairy open streets of the now modernised Deling City. The Galbadian government was working on turning Galbadia into a technology-ridden continent, much like Esthar, and to a certain degree they were succeeding, replacing construction materials, using different colours and developing their own forms of the technology that Esthar had. Suffice to say, Deling City was a little bit of a better place. Places were a lot brighter and a little wider. They had even applied anti-gravity to public transport in an attempt to un-clog the streets and also built an outer highway all the way around the city perimeter to try and reduce congestion in the inner city.

Irvine was being his usual flirtatious self, whether it was Selphie or other random girls on the streets. Quistis was just casually walking along, talking to Zell about various things. He was listening quite contently while walking and polishing the titanium dusters on his gloves with a rag. Squall however, after managing to get Selphie to give him his knives back, was walking about ten paces in front of the rest of the group.

"Hey Selph, did I mention how funky you looked with those knives? They suited your dress"

"Hey, whaddya know, dangerous while still lookin' sexy!" She said, slapping Irvine gently on the arm. "You think I should go get some?"

"Most definitely, if you can afford it" he replied.

Selphie then ran ahead to catch up with Squall

"Squall! Hey Squall!" she screamed while running up to him

He turned around and looked at the yellow-clad girl.

"Mmm?" Came his response

"Don't suppose you'd show us the shop where you got those knives? Me and the gang wanna do some shopping"

Squall placed his gloved hand on his forhead.

"Whatever…follow me"

Squall and Selphie waited for the rest of the party to catch up then started walking back to the shopping center/mall.

Squall lead the group into the shopping mall where he had previously bought the remedies on his belt, and also the new knives.

"This is the place" Squall said lazily, hand on one of his hips and the other pointing up towards the weapons shop. Selphie dived towards Squall and pulled him into a hug, knowing he would probably get Ms.Hyper into a strop if he didn't hug back, he hugged back.

"Thank you Squalllllll" she said before pulling away from the hug and belting towards the escalator that lead up to the second floor. Squall just looked on, shook his head and walked after her.

"She's crazy" said Zell, speaking Squalls thoughts aloud.

"Hey, you don't need to tell me" agreed Irvine, smiling, almost in admiration.

"I guess I should say whatever… but it hardly seems worth it" said Squall, pretty much mocking himself.

"Hey polar, make sure you don't freeze in there" called over Quistis, Squall looked over at her. They made perfect eye contact for a second until Squall averted his attention to the store he saw behind her. It was a cuddly toy shop with a large furry polar bear toy in the window. Squall looked back at Quistis and shook his head, she merely grinned and walked on.

After riding the elevator, only to be greeted by Selphie swinging her arms then running into the shop, Squall walked over to one of the pillars holding up the large neon sign of the weapons shop.

"Hey Squall, you coming in?" enquired Irvine.

"I've already been there once, why would I need to go in there again"

"Your call ace" called Irvine as he walked into the shop. Squall leant against one of the pillars and concentrated his mind on many places that weren't in the mall where he was standing.

Squall thought back to the moment Rinoa told him she would be leaving Garden.

He and Rinoa were standing in his dormitory, or at least, his old dormitory before he had it renovated.

"I'm leaving Squall, I've sorted things out with my father and there's a good chance I can get a job in Deling City"

"Huh…"

"I'm sorry, I really am, but I think its time we should call it off and go our own separate ways, I'm a military generals daughter, you're a mercenary, we don't match"

"Huh…"

"Please don't be like this…its pretty painful for me too"

Squall walked over to the window, opened the blinds and looked out over the passing terrain, Rinoa approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I've gotta go pack, I'll be in my dorm if you need me"

"Whatever…"

Rinoa backed off a bit, hurt by Squall's last comment.

"I hope we can still be friends, get in touch, and please don't be mad"

Squall slapped his hand to his forehead to snap himself out of the memory. He ran the same hand he slapped his forehead with through his hair, in a gesture of comfort and continued leaning against the pillar and looking up at the large plasti-glass roof of the mall.

"Typical…if it was me, I'd already be in, and out by now" Squall thought aloud, referring to Quistis, Selphie, Zell and Irvine. At that point, he looked to his left and saw three girls, of respectable beauty slip into view, he took a quick glance at the three of them then averted his eyes back to the skylight. Three girls, of similar age to his own started walking towards him.

'Crap' he thought mentally, they continued to walk, looking at him quite intently leaning against the pillar of the weapons shop with his arms now crossed in front of him. As they got closer, he turned his head towards them and made contact with one of their eyes, trying to play it cool as the three girls approached, they crossed in front of him, still gazing at him, at this point he was gazing back and a grin started to fill his features, then when they looked away, he started checking them out In their mini-skirts before tearing his head away from their direction and again placing his hand on his forehead.

"Dammit, now I'm becoming Irvine"

It was at this point that Irvine came out from the shop, instantly spotting the three girls who had just passed Squall and then a confused look filling his face. He then dipped his hat down around his eyes, and directly looked at the girls, raising one eyebrow higher than the other.

"Well, excuse me ladies, have we met before?"

Selphie then burst out of the store grabbing Irvine by the arm,

"Come on cowboy, lets go kill things" She then dragged him away, over to where Squall was leaning. Irvine chanced one last look at the girls to find that they were pointing and laughing at him, he went bright red before removing himself from their line of sight. Squall grinned at him before turning to Selphie and asking,

"Two questions, one, did you get all you wanted, two, where are Quistis and Zell?"

"Yeah, I got a pair of those funky-colorific knives, and to my knowledge, still in there making some purchases" Irvine then piped in with.

"Yeah, I grabbed me a new set of pistols a la imported from Esthar" he then reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of what could only be described as see-through guns.

"Pretty nifty huh? Active camouflage weaponry, been dying to get my hands on a pair of these" He then flicked two switches on the handles and the weapons became perfectly visible.

"I also managed to get a pair of these, Selph, hold my coat." He said, taking his coat off to reveal a harness with numerable slots, filled with numerous types of weaponry, ranging from throwing knives, guns and even grenades. Selphie nearly fell to the floor because of the weight of the coat, Primarily because it also had a harness attached to it, with numerous types of machine gun on the inside breast. Irvine then turned around, to reveal another five slots on the harness, each holding weaponry that stretched all the way down his back, he pulled two silver weapons from the two side slots on the harness and placed his weight on them on the floor.

"You know my standard weapon, the valiant?" Squall nodded although he disapproved of the amount of weaponry Irvine was carrying.

"Meet it's younger brothers" Squall nodded obviously approving of Irvine's choice of weaponry, although preferring close quarters himself. Irvine however, placed the guns back on the harness and took his coat back from Selphie and placed it back over his shoulders, with ease.

An audible cry of joy was heard as Zell bounced out of the shop, seemingly minus his gloves. Quistis exited not long after him with a quartet of new whips attached to her dress. Zell ran over to Squall and held out his hand.

"Hey Squall, shake my hand" Irvine and Selphie just looked at him oddly, then at Squall and nodded, giving Squall a hint to shake his hand to see what he was up to. Squall tried to take the hand, but an invisible barrier was blocking him from actually touching the skin.

"Let me guess, more camo technology?"

Zell grinned and nodded his head before visible flicking something with his finger and making a glove of energy appear around one hand.

"Total energy weapon, tested and safe too, read about them in magazines, only found a pair to buy today."

"Well, that's lovely, now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm hungry, so lets head into he city to find a nice restaurant to eat in.

"Uhh…can I drop some of this gear off at the car first?" Asked Irvine

"Sure" replied Squall, who then lead the rest of the team back to the entrance of the mall.

**Ok, well that was fun to write, especially the bit where Irvine took off the coat. Very matrix style if you ask me. Anyways, R&R much appreciated and thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7.**

After a short walk back to the car park situated at the center of Deling city, Irvine dropped off his large compliment of weaponry and the team decided to walk into the more urban area of Deling to try and find somewhere quiet and pleasant to eat, with moderate pricing, not that it mattered due to the budget they were all carrying. After browsing around at least twelve different restaurants they found one that suited their fancy. It was a two floor building with a large outdoor dining area situated on the second floor looking straight at the arc and car park, the fact that Selphie could actually see the Garden Car and Squalls GT500 greatly amused her and threw her into a hyper fit for around 2 minutes.

"WOW, its so cool, we can like, watch our cars while we eat, I mean how cool is that, if anybody tries to steal anything from them we can just call up magic and boom, they turn into a nice pile of ash, I mean seriously…how cool would that me, Mr.Thief thinking to himself 'Wow, this looks like a nice car, and like, oh my god, there's like…a massive armament of weapons inside-Score' then we just call magic and he fizzes into a pile of ash, right there, just after he's broken the window…but if we did that we'd probably be into a whole lot of trouble with the Galbadian government…" she ranted.

"Selphie, sit down and tell me what you want to eat" called Squall.

"I don't wanna do time in" she was cut off by Irvine

"Sit down Selphie"

"Hmph…k" she said while walking over to the table that the rest of the team was sitting at.

It was around five o'clock and it was still as bright as it was at midday, Squall couldn't really believe how much Deling had changed since the last time he visited…and that was a memory he would quite happily forget, but nonetheless he remembered it.

"So, who wants something to drink, its on me" called Zell.

"Ill take a coke" said Irvine,

"Me too" replied Selphie

"Diet Coke" replied Quistis

"Fanta" came Squalls one-word answer.

"Gotcha, be back in a sec" said Zell, walking up to the bar on the second floor.

"Why you drinking diet Quis?" enquired Selphie

"Well you know…gotta keep the figure" Squall looked up at Quistis following the comment before realising what he had just done and resumed looking at the menu.

"Know how ya feel" crooned Selphie, causing a reaction in Irvine

"You two are seriously kidding me right?" They both craned their necks at him before nodding simultaneously. Zell arrived back carrying a tray with five glasses on it, one clearly noticeable as it was separated from the rest, Quistis diet coke.

"Three cokes, one diet coke and a Fanta" said Zell as he handed out the drinks.

"Cheers" came each mark of gratitude from everybody sitting at the table. Everybody took a sip of their drink and then looked at the menus.

"Food is on me, just tell me what you all want" said Squall, getting up and putting his hand in his back pocket. "And I don't care how expensive" this invoked smiles from the rest of the party as they looked back at their menus. They gave their orders to Squall and he went over to the ordering counter to order their expensive meals.

"What do you think is with his generous streak?" Asked Selphie when he was out of earshot.

"I've no idea, but I quite like him like this" replied Zell"

"Me too" piped in both Irvine and Quistis simultaneously.

"Just doesn't seem right if you ask me" quizzed Selphie, her hand resting in her hair as a gesture of thought.

"Hey, just don't dig it, enjoy it" chirped Zell.

"I guess you're right, but I'm with Selphie on this one, it doesn't seem all-squall" finished Quistis as the conversation faded once more. Selphie still had her hand in her hair thinking, Zell flicked around with his energy gloves before getting bored and taking them off as the team discovered the gloves' solid form. Quistis was experimenting with the materials her new whips were made from, most of the tests involved scraping her nails down them. Irvine was playing with his ponytail and had his hat pulled down over his eyes when Squall came back from ordering.

"Well, there ya go, grub is ordered, now we wait"

"Indeed" came Quistis' response

"Huh, wha?" replied Irvine, pulling his hat up from over his eyes and flicking his ponytail back behind his head. "Oh, I get it"

"All that sniping made you leave your brain behind eh?" joked Selphie who grinned at him. He grinned back, sarcastically.

"Alright kids, leave it at home eh?" punned Zell. Squall waited for the 'kids' to finish playing before choosing to speak.

"I saw Rinoa earlier" all eyes were then focused on him. He was focussed on the salt shaker in the middle of the table. "She kinda invited us out for a drink at a club later or something, I wanna know who's in for it" The party looked at each other, unsure of what to think. Quistis was the first to speak.

"Well, are you going Squall?"

"I'll go only if everybody sitting at this table goes" The party again exchanged confused glances.

"Well, I wouldn't mind going par-taying, seeing Rinoa is a bonus, I'm game" squealed Selphie.

"If she's going, I'm going" came Irvine's response. Quistis and Zell exchanged one more chance and Zell spoke up.

"Well, I think you know what me and Quis are going to say" Squall nodded in acknowledgement,

"Well, in that case, we go then" he confirmed, looking around the table at each member of his ex-SeeD team. "I've told Rinoa I'd call her when we're ready"

A waitress arrived carrying a tray with the different meals placed on it, she called out each of the orders and the corresponding person made some kind of signal to say the meal was theirs. Once that was done, the party ate the food and made some random chat in between mouthfuls until they had finished, at which point they all got up, and walked back out into the busy streets of Deling city, where Squall took his mobile phone out of his pocket and put in the number Rinoa had given him earlier.

**A/N: A kinda short chapter but I wanted to keep this one short as I can probably imagine the next one or two being quite long, R&R always appreciated, Ciao for now.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8.**

"Squall?"

"…How'd you know?"

"Good guess"

"Oh…well, anyway"

"You guys wanna meet up right?"

"Another good guess, you at your dads?"

"Yeah…"

"Fine, we'll be swinging by later"

"Rough time?"

"When we get there."

"Typical Squall Leonhart response, well, ill see you later then"

"Yeah, cya"

Squall pressed his hand to his hand to his head in disbelief after folding up his phone and putting it in his back pocket.

"Alright, so that's done, if you wanna go anywhere, do it now. I'm heading back to the cars for a bit, maybe buy some clothes…"

The group stopped and stared at Squalls last four words. Squall picked up on the stare.

"What?"

"Oh, uh…nothing, listen, you want the spare keys to the van just in case?" Zell asked, reaching into his pocket, Squalls response was a simple nod and he caught the keys that were tossed over to him.

"I'll see you back at the cars when you're ready" Squall said, placing the key in his jacket pocket and walked away.

After heading to a shop and buying a blue shirt with wave patterns on it, a pair of black jeans with flames printed on, hair gel and some polish for his boots, Squall started walking back to the cars to get changed. Most of the way back he couldn't get the thought of what he had set himself up for off his mind.

Once he got back to the car park he got into the back of the Garden Car and put on the clothes he had just purchased, making sure to leave the first 3 buttons of the shirt undone to reveal his griever necklace hanging over his chest.

Upon getting out of the van he found the rest of the group approaching, already dressed in the attire they planned to wear for the night.

Selphie might aswell have not been wearing anything as she was wearing a short yellow skirt, tight yellow top with a diamond cut out in the chest to reveal her more than adequate chest and yellow knee-high furry boots. She also had her hair straight, free flowing over her shoulders as opposed to tucked up to the sides just above her shoulders.

Zell was dressed up in black jeans with ice patterns up the sides, a shirt with flame patterns on each side of the chest, a gelled spike at the front of his hair and the rest gelled down flat with UV reactive highlighting and UV reactive marker patterns drawn on each arm.

Irvine didn't really believe in dressing up to go to clubs, so he was dressed in his usual clothing, blue muscle shirt, baige jeans and cowboy boots of the same color on the front, but black on the heel.

Quistis had chosen to go for a more official approach, wearing a long ruby-red dress with red sequined shoes, hair free-flowing down her back with two spikes hanging over the side of her face and she also had UV reactive marker patterns drawn on her shoulders and arms.

Squall just stopped, dead in his tracks at how much effort the party had put into their look for the night, and the party were also staring at him, up until Zell broke the silence.

"Wow, it suits ya Squall, you want your hair gelled to complete the look?"

"As it is, I do, but I don't want it done fancy, I want it gelled so it stays the way it looks now"

"No problem came Zells response as he started to walk to the van. He and Squall got in and Zell gelled Squalls hair exactly how he had asked. They both got out, the rest of the party left their weapons in the van then walked to General Caraways mansion, stopping at a hotel on the way to get some rooms for the night. Zell and Quistis agreed to stay in the same room, same for Irvine and Selphie, and Squall would take the third room, on his own seeming as it was the only room that had a double bed. After buying rooms, the party headed straight to Caraways Mansion to get Rinoa.

Nothing had changed about Caraways mansion, same building, same roads, same walkways and guard station on the front gate, complete with 2 galbadian soldiers.

"We're here to pick up Rinoa" Squall boldly said to the Soldier on the right of the gate.

"And you are?"

"Squall Leonhart, Irvine Kinneas, Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt, Quistis Trepe, SeeDs on vacation"

"Wait here"

The soldier walked into the guards station said a few words into the radio, received a response and waved the party in, they walked in through the gate onto the all familiar pathway leading up to the front door of the mansion, which was already ajar for them to just walk in.

"Well, there's a face I never thought I'd see again, how are ya son" came the familiar voice of General Caraway as Squall walked into the mansion.

"Pretty good General, how goes the military?" said Squall, reaching out a hand

"Oh, just fine, just fine, how about SeeD?" the General replied, taking Squalls hand and shaking.

"Ah, ya know…same as always really, say, is she here?"

"Yeah sure, let me go get her for you" he said, walking up the stairs "Rinoa, your friends are here"

"Coming" she replied, her voice getting audibly closer before bursting through the double doors on the landing of the double-stairway. Squall blinked then his eyes widened as he realised that she was wearing the exact same dress she was wearing the first time they met, but she had seemed to have put on a little bit of weight since the last time he saw her wearing it.

"Hi guys" she said, waving cutely from the landing "Ready to partay?"

An audible wolf-whistle eminated from Irvine before quickly silencing as Selphie elbowed him in the chest.

"Yeah, good to see you too Irvine" she said, starting to walk down the stairway towards her father, causing smiles to break on everybody's faces. She placed a quick kiss on her dads cheek then elegantly sauntered down the stairway toward the rest of the group.

"So, whats the plan Mr.Leader?" Squall looked at the rest of the group.

"Don't ask me, ask them" Zell instinctively pressed his fingers in his ears before Selphie squealed-

"Lets hit that PAAAAR-TAY!" before jumping in the air hi-fiving the air and running out the door of the mansion.

"I'll be home either tonight or tomorrow dad"

"Alright, hey, uh, Squall? Can I talk to you for a second"

"Uh sure General, uhh…Zell, Quistis, Irvine, Rinny, ill see you all outside." The rest of the team nodded and walked out of the door after Selphie onto the front lawn of the mansion.

"What can I do for you General?"

"Well Squall, its primarily about Rinoa, can you sort of….Oh, I really shouldn't be asking this of a SeeD…it's in their nature…"

"Whatever it is, I'll do it General"

"Look after my daughter Squall…See that no harm comes to her, in any shape or form"

Squall was mentally beating himself up after listening to the Generals last comment.

"Of course General" he replied before firmly shaking hands with Caraway and exiting to the front lawn through the double doors. The rest of the party was sitting casually on the front steps admiring the lawn.

Squall decided it best not to speak up in this moment of tranquillity, something he wouldn't see or hear for the next few hours. He reached out his left arm, placed it on the wall of the arch, then placed his weight on it with his head pitched slightly downward, glancing at the patterns on Quistis' shoulders. Zell was the first to glance back and actually notice Squall leaning against the wall, Squall noticed the look on Zells face that asked one question, he gave him a solitary nod and applied pressure to the wall that threw him out of his lean and gave him total balance before he walked down the two steps, past the rest of the team and down the pathway to the front gate. This prompted the rest of the group to stand up and walk towards the front gate, stepping almost in unison with each other.


End file.
